Pornography addiction forums could radicalize another shooter
I had been leading an independent lab for nearly 10 years studying various aspects of genital responsiveness, but the death threats first came when I published a study that did not support pornography addiction. The death threats were thick with misogyny and anti-semitism, which seemed bizarre as they simultaneously bragged that they were liberal bastions for equality. I went quickly to being physically stalked, moving my home multiple times, and now living in address protection. Last week, someone threatened to send a private investigator to find my new home. Four days later, the Atlanta murder of (mostly) women seemed to manifest the incredible vitriol I have watched grow.
All of this occurred through “pornography addiction” forums on the Internet. Scientists have started studying these communities. They have been described as a part of a new anti-sexuality movement, which includes (1) anti-pornography feminists, (2) Internet porn addiction activists, and (3) religious morality groups.
Users of online porn addiction forums also most frequently comment in forums such as “TheRedPill”, “incel”, “seduction”, “MensRights”, and “Steroids”. Themes in these forums include dominance in relationships over women, dating mantras, viewing rape reports as largely false, and a (seemingly contradictory) goal to attain female sex partners. YouTube videos claiming to coach boys to quit pornography addiction were noted to prompt algorithms for “pick up artist” videos (“7 Psychology Tricks for Getting Girls!”, “SIGNS YOU’RE A BETA MALE”). Young men appear to flock to these forums as a way of dealing with rejection by women to identify some compensatory “masculine” acts.
The forums concerning pornography addiction express unusually regressive attitudes about gender. These forums appear to be 99% male. “Whereas a website committed to the rejection of pornography might have been expected to be a site of ‘progressive’ or ‘unconventional’ expressions of masculinity aligning with anti-pornography feminist concerns […] coupled heterosexual sex as a prototypical ideal and on the other position pornography use and masturbation as well outside of this ‘charmed circle’ of valued sex”. Put another way, these forums reinforce ideas of masculinity tied to dominance and tradition, including disgust of homosexuality and leading chaste women.
The voluminous YouTube videos covering pornography addiction appear to reinforce forum messaging. Masturbating to porn is a problem, according to these videos, because it is feminizing men by making them a slave to masturbation.
The videos enhance shame, describing viewing pornography as evidence of poor self-control (although this seems at odds with other language that holds viewers blameless from their actions).
The competitions to remain “porn free” for the longest period, then, is described as a kind of masculinity olympics without any clear link to actual health changes. Although they claim to be non-religious, these forums appear dominated by religious discourses of battling demons or triumph over evil. These are framed as male issues, as their sexuality is “naturally” out of control, where women’s desire is always under their control.
These users seem to advocate abdication of their responsibility. One researcher noted a common theme of demonization “…a person may be viewed as no longer responsible, and no longer able to choose between good and evil, sin and conformity” (p. 303). This is reinforced by hijacking neuroscience language. The references cited have been described as “more than just intellectual dishonesty and manipulation”. Specifically, they “serve to justify current and future discriminatory behaviours”. Of course, pornography has similar effects as any other intense, emotional imagery. To those without training in neuroscience, however, these facts are easily misrepresented.
Extremely concerning is the suicidality in these forums. “I am a terminally ill person who is waiting to die” and “I didn’t have any right to live” described some of the users. While anonymous forums can offer a space to talk freely and without judgement about thoughts of self-harm, such feelings are likely to worsen on porn addiction forums.
Cast as an “addiction”, pornography viewing is understood as a permanent pestilence without resolve. Pornography addiction becomes a stable, internalized, negative attribution (“once an addict, always an addict!”) that would encourage suicide. Pornography (and masturbation) may be a method of coping with depression. Dozens of very effective treatments exist for depression. In these forums, the framework is one of lifelong, insurmountable moral failings. If you are enforced by an online group to view your depression through the lens of pornography addiction, I believe the risk of suicide will increase. These young men are then discouraged from seeking the opinions of experts, who they are told will not understand (i.e., validate) their framework.
Race also is a concern on these forums. Language in pornography addiction forums is largely right-leaning in discussions of race. These forums are viewed as excellent recruiting grounds by anti-semitic groups. Broadly, they are described as impeding social justice and relying on gender and racial stereotypes.
As I have experienced first-hand, these forums are known for vitriolically attacking female scholars with differing viewpoints. A forthcoming study describes the validation and escape that seems to fuel these forums. This creates an in-group unable to integrate information inconsistent with their viewpoint. Furthermore, the “porn addiction” framework in these forums seems designed to keep these young men in distress, believing that they are powerless without the forum. This serves the agenda of well-funded religious organizations in the USA, so there is a protective wall around this growing group.
When this level of hatred and resistance to outside information is observed in an online environment, it is reason to monitor closely. Similar forums developed a history of causing violence against women.
